Guernsey reports sharp increase in visitor numbers
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VisitGuernsey has reported strong Q2 results, with the total number of business and leisure visitors up 6.2% compared to the same period in 2014.
This follows healthy visitor numbers in Q1, which saw a 7.3% year-on-year increase in staying visitors.
Key stats for Q2 include a 11.3% year-on-year increase in bed nights sold in commercial accommodation, and total overnight stays rising 10.7%. The average length of stays rose by 4.3%
From April to June, Guernsey saw a significant increase in visiting friends and family (VFR) numbers of 34.4% (from 12,850 to 17,250). The staying VFR visitors travelling by sea increased year-on-year by 95% (3,600) and staying VFR visitors travelling by air also rose by 24%(13,430).
Leisure day visitors travelling by air increased 84%. Staying leisure visitors travelling by air were also up by nearly 11%.
This positive second quarter spells a good year for tourism to Guernsey overall. From January to June 2015 there was an overall increase of 6.5% (to 102,000) in staying visitors. There were 456,100 overnight stays in Guernsey, an increase of 10.1%, with a 10.1% increase to 311,100 in bed nights sold in commercial accommodation.
During the first six months of 2015 there has been a 3.2% increase in visitors to Guernsey from the UK (from 88,900 to 91,800).
This result does not include the rise in cruise ship passengers which is up from 50,650 in Q2 2014 to 59,285 in Q2 2015, representing an increase of 17.1%.
Mike Hopkins, director of Marketing & Tourism, VisitGuernsey said: “We are delighted with Guernsey’s performance for the first six months of 2015, which continues the strong growth we saw during 2014. It’s encouraging to see this growth, especially in the number of bed nights sold and positive staying visitor numbers.”
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